Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Quotes

I believe that some of the greatest minds that ever lived had not read half as much and did not know nearly as much as some of our mediocre scholars. And some 20 of our verr mediocre scholars could have become greater men if they had not read so much.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is that they must change if they are to get better.

Courage, garrulousness and the mob are on our side. What more do we want?

Here take back the stuff that I am, nature, knead it back into the dough of being, make of me a bush, a cloud, whatever you will, even a man, only no longer make me me.

With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.

What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.

It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.

...if we gained only one incontestable truth every ten years from each of our philosophical writers the harvest we reaped would be sufficient.

El hombre tenía tal entendimiento que ya casi no servía para nada.

Deutsche Charaktere. Das ist die schon hundertmal hergeleierte Klage der allgemeinen Bibliothek, über der einem fast alle Gedult ausgehen mögte. Ich frage gleich: Was ist ein deutscher Charakter? Was? Nicht wahr, Tabakrauchen und Ehrlichkeit? O Ihr einfältigen Tröpfe. Hört seid so gut und sagt mir, was ist es für Wetter in Amerika? Soll ichs statt eurer sagen? Gut. Es blitzt, es hagelt, es ist dreckig, es ist schwül, es ist nicht auszustehn, es schneit, friert, wehet und die Sonne scheint.

Solche Zeilen wie einige in Psalm 4 werden wenige geschrieben. Wie unendlich viel steckt nicht in den Worten: Redet mit euren Herzen auf eurem Lager; opfert Gerechtigkeit und hoffet auf den Herrn. Eine ganze Religion!

Aujourd'hui, on cherche partout à répandre le savoir; qui sait si, dans quelques siècles, il n'y aura pas des universités pour rétablir l'ancienne ignorance?

We can see nothing whatever of the soul unless it is visible in the expression of the countenance; one might call the faces at a large assembly of people a history of the human soul written in a kind of Chinese ideograms.

No es que los oráculos hayan dejado de hablar, sino que los hombres han dejado de escucharlos.